Friday, 30 October 2009

Hit and run killer lorry driver back on the roads in three years

"You have shown no remorse at all. In the witness box not once did you express any concern for the deceased and his family. Your attitude was 'it was all the cyclist's fault'.

Andrew Stubbs, 41, was behind the wheel of his lorry when it hit cyclist Tony Spink, 41, at the junction of Ings Road and Charlesworth Way, Wakefield.

Stubbs, from Oxford, had been driving since 5am and had not taken the legal 4.5 hour break when the accident happened at around 10am. Featherstone artist Mr Spink's bike was dragged along under the lorry for several minutes.

But instead of reporting the accident, panicking Stubbs is believed to have pulled over onto a layby, pulled out the wedged, mangled bike from his lorry and thrown it into some undergrowth on the Ossett Bypass

Mr Spink, an experienced cyclist, had tried to cling on to the windscreen wipers and was thumping on the side of the truck to try and get his attention.

Stubbs was convicted by a jury of perverting the course of justice and careless driving.